Judge gets Democrats’ nod to face Grassley

DES MOINES - Albia Democrat Patty Judge outpaced three competitors in Tuesday's primary election to earn her party's nomination to face six-term Republican Chuck Grassley in Iowa's 2016 U.S. Senate race.

Judge, 72, used her name recognition advantage as a former lieutenant governor, state secretary of agriculture and state senator, to capture the support of 47.5 percent of Democratic primary voters with all but 18 of 1,779 precincts reporting in defeating challengers Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, Tom Fiegen of Clarence and Bob Krause of Fairfield.

Hogg, 49, a 14-year veteran of the Iowa Legislature and a current state senator, held second place with 39 percent, while Fiegen, 57, an attorney and former state senator, and Krause, 66, a veterans' advocate and ex-Iowa House member, finished well behind the two leaders each with under 7 percent. Judge polled strong among rural counties, pulling away as unofficial results were slowly tabulated, while Hogg performed well in urban areas.

'Tonight Iowa took the first step in getting the U.S. Senate working again,” Judge told a victory celebration. 'Together we are going to win in November and now it's time to party.”

She said she would launch her general-election campaign on Wednesday in Washington, Iowa.

Judge staged a low-key primary campaign that focused on her electability as a seasoned statewide candidate and Grassley's leading role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a Republican blockade of President Barack Obama's nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court – touting herself as the 'one Judge that Chuck Grassley can't ignore.”

'I'm really fed up with Chuck Grassley's excuses for not doing his job,” she told her victory celebration. 'There is no excuse for not holding those hearings – none. It's about partisan politics, nothing more.

She had the backing and fundraising muscle of the national Democratic establishment to go with her experience as a woman who served two terms in the Iowa Senate, eight years as Iowa's secretary of agriculture and four years as lieutenant governor along with credentials as a nurse, real estate appraiser, farmer and mediator.

Hogg posed the toughest challenge to Judge's nomination by touting progressive positions on the environment, the economy, trade, Social Security and others that won him the backing of Iowa's major labor organizations and younger voters inspired by his enthusiasm to fix a broken political system in Washington with new ideas and approaches.

'It appears that we have not gotten the results we wanted and that is personally disappointing to me,” Hogg told his supporters. 'I support (Judge) wholeheartedly and I want you to support her wholeheartedly.”

Both Fiegen and Krause offered themselves as candidates rich in ideas to bolster the suffering and sagging middle class, but challenged in the campaign financing needed to wage an effective statewide campaign – relying heavily on social media to carry their messages to rank-and-file Democrats and independents.

However, Tuesday turned out to be 'Judge-ment” day for Democrats producing an anticipated match-up between two well-known and well-tested Iowa politicians after Grassley, 82, ran unopposed Tuesday in his quest for a seventh, six-year term in a U.S. Senate job paying $174,000 annually plus benefits.

Grassley told reporters he cast an absentee ballot in his uncontested GOP primary and was 'not going to think too much about who my opponent is” heading into a general election where he is regarded as potentially vulnerable with presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump at the top of the ticket and controversy swirling about the Supreme Court nominee.

However, a fundraising email sent Tuesday by the Grassley Works team urged supporters to help ensure the Republican's opponent 'has an unscalable climb” to defeat him in November by contributing so he can 'hit the ground running (Wednesday) morning to make sure Iowans know all about Sen. Grassley's opponent.”

Robert Haus, Grassley Works campaign manager, issued a statement after Tuesday's balloting declaring that the primary election exposed 'deep schisms” in the Iowa Democratic Party.

'We saw grassroots Iowans reject the hand-picked candidate of Harry Reid and the Democratic DC Establishment: Patty Judge,” Haus said. 'Over half of Iowa Democrats chose someone other than Patty Judge. This is despite her having been on the statewide ballot four times, and running against three opponents who were not well-known and unable to raise enough money to buy a single television ad.”

Republican Gov. Terry Branstad noted this week that incumbents generally 'are in a very good position” in Iowa elections and he believed that would be true for Grassley this year 'regardless of what happens” in the Democrats' Senate primary race.

'I believe Sen. Grassley lives a charmed life and, regardless of who his opponent is, I think that he is in a very strong position,” Branstad told reporters Monday. 'He hasn't missed a vote in 20 years. He goes to every county every year. I was in D.C. on his birthday and I know he ran a 10k and beat last year's time on that.”

- Gazette reporter Emily Barske contributed to this report.